Black Riding Hood: Reunited
by Nerium Dogbane
Summary: This is the story of a lovestruck girl and a werewolf...pfft...yeah right. One day, a young girl goes on a walk through the forest on her way to her grandmother's house and meets a strange boy who resembles her twin, who she had not seen in years. Her family may be reunited, but what about the hunter? Story includes a talking stuffed animal.
1. Grandma is ill

**Chapter One  
**

It was a warm, but windy day. The sky was mostly clear and a brilliant blue color, like always, except for a few wisps of cloud. The expanse of an abundant forest below the sky reached to the horizon.

This was no ordinary day, though, for in the forest was a cottage, and in that cottage lived a girl named... "Hey," the girl named Ma... "Quit narrating. I can tell my own story!"

* * *

I put down my book and look at Gren. I sigh. I guess I have some explaining to do. That was Grendel, I call him Gren, he's a plush toy. Strange isn't it? I'm Marah Bleddyn, anyway, and _I'll_ be narrating from now on. That's all you need to know.

"I _like_ narrating," Gren protests, "and don't call me Gren. It's not a cute name."

"No, it's a _cool_ name." I say, remembering Gren's affinity for cute things.

"You should have named me Honeydoodle." he pouts.

I laugh. "Really?"

"It's cute!"

"Whatever." I say as I get up and put my book back on the bookshelf in my room.

My room is small and there's only enough room for my bed, a small bookshelf, my dresser, which is also small, and the long wooden shelf that was built into the wall on one side of my room. It's also dark because my room doesn't have a window.

"See ya, Gren." I say as I leave. Outside my room is the main room. Half of it is the kitchen and the other half is the living room/dining room, whatever you want to call it. I call it the "fyr room" because "fyr" is spelled similarly to "fire". I walk over to the fireplace in the fyr room. My parents always keep at least a small fire burning. They say it's because they like hearing the wood burn, but I suspect there's more to it than that. That's another story though.

I'm staring at the fire when I hear a door open. I turn around to see my mom coming in from outside. She's carrying a large cloth-covered basket, which she puts on the kitchen counter, and she looks very tired. I decide not to ask to many questions. She looks at me with a very serious expression. I smirk.

"You look too serious." I tell her. One of my fatal flaws: laughing/smiling/smirking when some one looks to serious or is asking me or if I'm involved in a misunderstanding. It gets me in _a lot_ of trouble, but I can't help it. Trust me, I've tried.

"Your grandma's not feeling well." she says, ignoring my comment, "Would you take this basket to her?" She gestures toward the basket.

"Let me guess, cake and wine?" I say, and yes, I've read _Little Red Riding Hood_. The kid's not very smart, but that's nothing new when it comes to fairy tales.

"It helps." Mom says, then adds, "And be careful of the hunter." She looks me in the eye. "He's back."

I nod after a second. If he's back we all need to be careful. "Okay." I say as I pick up the basket.

"Marah, take Grendel with you too." Mom says before walking into her room and closing the door.

I walk back to my room and pick up Grendel, who seems happy to finally leave my room, since he had been there for _sooo _long. It's only been 10 years. Well...I guess that is a long time.

My grandma gave him to me on my 5th birthday. I was really excited at first, but who wouldn't be? He was so small and fluffy. The cute wolf stuffed animal seemed perfect at the time. If only I had known it could talk.

I put Grendel in the basket, which he complains about, in case someone sees me. I'm 15 after all, I don't want to be caught carrying a stuffed animal around. After that, I leave to visit Grandma.


	2. Fang returns

**Chapter 2**

I like walks through the forest, but I usually don't get to go outside. When I was younger I couldn't go outside because the children from a nearby village often wandered to far into the forest and found our cottage. Then the hunter came and started killing wolves. I know that doesn't really sound like a reason to stay inside, but when you're half wolf people tend to freak out. Oh, I forgot to mention that didn't I. Yes, I have wolf ears and a tail, but other than that I look perfectly human. That's why my grandma made me a black riding hood. The cape part is really long and goes to my ankles so it will hide my tail. I have to keep my ears back against my head to hide them, though, and that's the difficult part.

Anyway, I'm taking a walk through the woods, and Gren won't be quiet. It's _really_ annoying.

"Gren, be quiet."

"But I want to see the butterflies."

"There aren't any."

"It's stuffy in here!"

"Shut up."

"...I want to see the flowers."

"Be quiet. Do have any idea what people would think if they heard a stuffed animal talking?"

I take him out of the basket and hold him up so he can see the forest. "Oh, flowers!" he shouts excitedly when he sees a large patch of flowers in a clearing. I groan. "We need to get going." I say as I put him back in the basket, but I stop midway when another voice interrupts me. "You need to relax a bit Marah." it says. I turn around to see a boy around my age. He's not from the village though, I can tell right away. He has ears and a tail, like me, but his eyes look like a wolf's too. He grins, and I notice that he also has very sharp teeth that are covered in something red, like blood. "_It's definitely blood."_ I think as he walks toward me. "Remember me?" he asks, holding out his hand. He has sharp nails too. "Yeah, where did you go?" I answer as I shake his hand. That's what we did when we were younger. "Dad took me farther into the forest so the hunter wouldn't find us."

"Dad's back?"

"Yeah, but not for long."

"So the hunter really did come back."

"Don't worry about it for now. Aren't you going to ask me what I ate?"

"What did you eat Fang?" I ask cautiously. "A deer." he says proudly with a hug grin. "Congratulations." I say, not really meaning it. I get the feeling he ate it raw, and that's kind of gross. "So where are you going so early."

"To grandma's house."

"I'll go with you." he says happily. It's been 10 years since we last saw each other. I'm glad to see my twin again. It almost makes me want to pick flowers, well, maybe not. I put Grendel on top of the basket. If Fang's going to be with me there's no point in trying to hide Gren. We continue on the path that leads to our grandma's house, and Gren keeps naming flowers until we get there. I'm about to knock on the door when Fang stops me. He sniffs the air. "She has another visitor." He says, backing up. "Hide Gren and don't let anyone see your ears." he adds before running into the forest to hide. If there is someone here, it would be best if he stayed outside. I put Gren back in the basket and knock on the door. "I'll get it for you." I hear a male voice from inside say. He opens the door and I recognize him immediately. It's the hunter. "Hello, I came to see my grandma." I say, smiling cheerfully. If I act innocent and somewhat ignorant he shouldn't suspect anything. "Of course." he says, stepping aside. I walk past him and go to my grandma's room. He shuts the door behind me.

"Hey grandma." I say as I enter her room. She looks at me with a worried expression until the hunter joins us. I set the basket down on her nightstand and pull out the cake and wine. "Mom told me to give these to you. I hope you feel better soon." I say as I pick up the basket and put the cake and wine in its place. "Thank you dear, I'm sure your mother is worried about you." she says, taking my hand. "Have you been in bed resting all day?" I ask, trying to change the subject. "Yes dear, you should go now. It's nearing lunch time." She has a point. The hunter kills wolves as soon as he sees them, but he would never hurt a person. He's probably here because he heard someone was sick and wanted to help. "The little lady had the same idea I had. Well, I'd better get going to," he says, picking up his gun, "don't want to let those darn wolves get out of control, now do we?" He laughs at what I guess could pass as a joke. I laugh half-heartedly.

As we walk outside I look around at the surrounding forest to make sure Fang is well-hidden. I don't see him. "You always have to be careful in these woods." the hunter says as he begins walking down the path. "It's not so bad during the day. I don't go out at night." I tell him, hoping he will drop the subject. "The night's the worst. It's when they come out to hunt." I don't say anything. No one in my family talks badly about wolves, so I'm not used to the negativity toward them.

Suddenly something jumps from the tree behind us and lands in the bushes on the other side of the path. The hunter spins around, ready to shoot. "It's probably just a squirrel." I say, trying to distract him. He turns toward me. "What kind of squirrel would do that?" he questions me. "I dumb one." I say as something jumps out of the bushes and runs farther into the forest. He spins around again, then gives me a puzzled look. I smile and tell him there are a lot of idiotic squirrels in the forest, and stuff like that happens often enough. He stares at me with a blank expression at first, then laughs it off. "If you say so." he says before ruffling my hair. Then he looks at me, confused. "What the..." he starts to say before quickly pulling my hood. He looks at my ears in amazement and shock. I worry that he might freak out and try to kill me or something, but he doesn't. "Can I...," he pauses for a second, "touch your ears?" Now I'm surprised. "Um, yeah. I guess." I say as I let my ears relax and go back to their natural position. "They're so soft." he marvels, "What kind of shampoo do you use?" I am very confused now. "_At least he's not trying to kill me." _I think to myself. He'll still need to forget this though. I carefully take Grendel out of the basket and hand him to the hunter. "He's cute isn't he." I say as he takes Gren. The hunter looks at me with a confused expression, then passes out. I drag him off the path and lay him next to a tree. Hopefully he'll think he was napping. "Nice work Grendel." I thank Gren as I pick him up. He sighs. "I don't like replacing people's memories. It feels wrong." he says, depressed. "Whatever." I say this only because I don't know what else to say. I put Gren on top of the basket again.


	3. It was a prank

**Chapter 3**

"Alright, what's going on?" I yell as soon as I get home. My parents are sitting on the ground next to the fire and Fang is drawing in the kitchen. I guess he found a new hobby. Dad looks at me and laughs. "What happened with the hunter?" I ask, ignoring Dad, who only laughs harder. Fang looks at me and smiles. "It was Dad's idea." he says as Dad stops laughing. "It was a prank." Mom says, sighing. "What are you talking about?" I ask them. This is getting very suspicious. "See this ring," Fang says, holding up his left hand, "it can alter people's personality. Only for a certain amount of time though." I look at him, then dad, then mom. "Did you know about this?" I ask her. She shakes her head and says, "Your dad told me about this when Fang got home. He's hopeless."

"So, what did you do?" Dad asks me. "I had Grendel replace his memory. He should be waking up soon, but he'll think he was napping." I say, now annoyed. "What did he replace it with?" Fang asks. I didn't think of that. For all I know, the hunter might think he was singing to rabbits and birds all morning. "Probably the first thing he thought of." I say while looking at Gren. "What did he think of?" my mom asks cautiously. "Little Red Riding Hood." Gren says happily.

After that, the story of Little Red Riding hood became very popular. The hunter never seemed to think twice about what happened that day, but we moved farther into the forest just to be safe. I was upset about it at first, but I eventually realized that it was better that way. We weren't the only ones in the forest after all.


End file.
